Negative Week Ends, Mercifully

Equities in Toronto closed a painful week with more losses on Friday, mostly in the consumer and communications field.

The TSX Composite Index lost 59.01 points to 21,639.10 or 368 points or 1.67% on the week

The Canadian dollar edged higher 0.07 cents to 72.73 cents U.S.

Alimentation Couche-Tard weighed most on the consumer staples sector, closing lower $2.93, or 3.8%, to $75.94, while Primo Water fell 62 cents, or 2%, to $30.62.

In communications, BCE dropped $1.45, or 3.1%, to $45.21, while Cogeco Communications gave back 50 cents to $52.57.

Energy also got stung, with Enerplus down 93 cents, or 3.4%, to $26.75, while Veren lost 28 cents, or 2.7%, to $10.23.

Techs moved forward, with Shopify taking on $4.20, or 4.7%, to $93.09, while Bitfarms gained five cents, or 1.3%, to $3.91.

In gold stocks, Iamgold added nine cents, or 1.8%, to $4.97, while OceanaGold obtained seven cents, or 1.9%, to $2.23.

On the macroeconomic calendar, April wholesale trade Wholesale sales grew 2.4% to $83.3 billion in April, while manufacturing sales increased 1.1% in April, mainly due to higher sales of transportation equipment as well as primary metals. Production of aerospace products and parts declined the most.

Motor vehicles sales in this country totaled 175,100 in April, compared to 171,600 the month before.

ON BAYSTREET

The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 1.11 points to 574.09. for a week-long drop of 14.2 points, or 2.4%.

All but two of the 12 subgroups were negative, weighed most by consumer staples, lower by 1.7%, communications, down 1.2%, and energy, off 0.9%.

Only information technology and gold held out against the negative tide, tech stocks ahead 0.7%, and gold slightly brighter, 0.2%.

ON WALLSTREET

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The S&P 500 fell marginally on Friday, pulling back from record highs after a decline in consumer sentiment.

The Dow Jones Industrials lost 60.01 points to 38,587.09.

The much-broader index gave back 2.08 points to 5,431.66

The NASDAQ moved carefully into positive country, 21.32 points, to 17,688.88.

Elsewhere, software giant Adobe leapt 14% Friday after fiscal second-quarter results surpassed Wall Street estimates. Shares of Caterpillar led the Dow lower, while Carnival, Norwegian Cruise Line and United Airlines were the biggest laggards in the S&P 500. The energy sector was also trading in the red on Friday.

Hopes for a continued cooling of inflation have boosted the S&P 500 and NASDAQ this week. The S&P 500 is on pace to end the week higher by 1.3%, and the NASDAQ by 1.3% and 2.7%. Both benchmarks hit record highs in the past five days as well.

The University of Michigan’s Survey of Consumers showed that consumer sentiment declined to 65.6 in June, down from 69.1 in May. This reading also came below the 71.5 Dow Jones estimate.

Wholesale inflation unexpectedly ticked down by 0.2% last month, while economists polled by Dow Jones expected the gauge to increase by 0.1%. That follows a consumer price index reading that was flat on a monthly basis in May.

Prices for the 10-year Treasury gained ground, lowering yields to 4.21% from Thursday’s 4.24%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Oil prices slid seven cents to $78.55 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices regained $30.60 to $2,348.60